


A Moment for Tomorrow

by fantasmefantastic



Category: Naruto
Genre: Cutesy, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Mild Smut, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:54:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22390600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasmefantastic/pseuds/fantasmefantastic
Summary: Ino had never been struck by lightning, physically or metaphorically, so she had no concept of what that might feel like. It was an expression she had never understood. She had never believed in things like signs from above, astrology, or concepts like meant to be, or soulmates. Ino had always felt that she was practical, a realist. Until now. Until this very moment.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 1
Kudos: 58





	A Moment for Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> **author's note:** Well friends, here we are. My first ShikaIno post on Ao3! This is not to say I don't support ShikaTeam cause I do....I just also love ShikaIno! I do not own Naurto or the miniscual references to One Tree Hill or Glee. This is definietly a rambling romantic one shot that just kind of happened and I'm posting because I am at work and cannot concentrate on anything because I have a date tonight?? Trust me, friends, when I say that I am not a ~chill~ person who goes on dates, ever. So. Enjoy! *blows kiss*

Ino was tired. She was also a good bit drunk. Jet lag was a very real thing, she was discovering, since this was her first time flying cross country. And the fourteen hour flight had required a dubious amount of drinks to survive, and the weekend had been a whirlwind ever since she stepped off the plane.

Ino wished she could be annoyed with Choji for having his stupid wedding on the opposite coast, where things like white sand and palm trees were abudnant. But she couldn’t, because Choji had been her friend since childhood, an ingrained part of her life, a friend of the family, and his now wife was from Kumo. They’d opted for a small, intimate ceremony on Turtle Island, and it had been beautiful and wonderful.

Even if Karui was nuts.

Her family took parties very seriously, and even Ino, who identified strongly as an extrovert, was overwhelmed by Choji’s new family. They’d certainly gotten Ino and the rest of Choji’s guests (few that there were) to, as the kids say, party. It was now well past midnight, and it seemed the reception was still going strong, at least based on the level of noise coming from the white tented pavilion. Ino had retreated to the beach for a brief moment of escape, with nothing but a gin and tonic to keep her company.

It still freaked her out that her friends were starting to get married. Tenten’s boyfriend had proposed to her while Ino was away! Everyone knew it was only a matter of time until Naruto popped the question for his girlfriend, Hinata. Like, what? They were only twenty five, for Christ’s sake. But Choji had met Karui on his travel year, and that was it for them; he’d come home and declared he would marry her and, sure enough, two years later, he did. Tenten and Neji had been together forever, and Naruto and Hinata were the commitment type.

Ino could not relate.

So here she was, on a beach on Turtle Island, the most beautiful place in Kumo, wearing a pretty dress, drinking alone.

“The next time somebody gets married cross country,” drawled a voice, as a body dropped onto the sand beside her, “I am not going.”

Ino chuckled. “I was literally just thinking the same thing. Honestly, what a drag.”

Shikamaru glared at her, but she just tossed him a cheeky grin in response. One of the few pleasures in her post-grad life was tormenting her lazy ass friend. Like Choji, Shikamaru had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. They’d been her rocks throughout school, since Ino had always had trouble making friends (specifically girl friends). She hadn’t found a close knit group until she hit college, when she met Sakura. And through Sakura; Naruto, Tenten, and Sai.

Ugh, Sai.

Ino turned away from thoughts of her ex boyfriend. They’d been popping up more and more frequently lately, especially in light of everyone being together and getting married. It was hard not to think of her black-haired ex, who hadn’t been the most emotionally available, but damn, he had been good in bed. Eventually, Ino had realized she wanted more than just sex and a short-term relationship. She wanted the real thing, and she knew Sai could not give it to her. So, they’d broken up, not spoken to each other for a few months, and now she was sitting on the beach, looking at her phone, her thumb hovering over his name.

“Ino,” Shikamaru said, warningly. “Don’t even think about texting him.”

Ino glared at her friend, who was slumped in the sand with his eyes closed. “You’re not even looking! You don’t know what I’m thinking!” she squawked, defensively.

Without opening his eyes, Shikamaru shifted, putting his hands behind his head, sinking further into the sand. A small smirk played across his lips as he said, “You think I need to see you to know what you’re thinking?”

Ino had never been struck by lightning, physically or metaphorically, so she had no concept of what that might feel like. It was an expression she had never understood. She had never believed in things like signs from above, astrology, or concepts like meant to be, or soulmates. She appreciated things like romance and love, but didn’t subscribe to A Big Moment type thinking. She liked rom-coms and chick lit as much as the next person, but saw them for exactly what they were: fantasies. Ino had always felt that she was practical, a realist. She was getting her doctorate degree in psychology, for fuck’s sake.

So there was absolutely no explanation for this feeling that suddenly overwhelmed her, when she heard Shikamaru say that simple phrase. _You think I need to see you to know what you’re thinking?_ Those words rang in her ears as she looked across the sand at him and she wondered, briefly, if this was what people meant when they said struck by lightning.

 _ _ _Oh_ , __her soul seemed to say. _ _ _There you are.___

Ino had to admit that she had always found Shikamaru handsome, in an abstract sort of way. He had always just been Shikamaru. Lifelong friend, practically a brother, the third of her childhood trio. There were few people on this plant that Ino trusted implicitly, and Shikamaru was one of them. They’d gone through phases of teasing each other, and even been each other’s first kiss, ( _just to know what it’s like! A young Ino had insisted. You’re so troublesome, a young Shikamaru had groaned in response_ ). Ino had never looked at Shikamaru that way and never, ever thought of him as anything more than one of her very best friends.

Until now. Until this exact moment.

“Ino,” Shikamaru said, breaking into her thoughts. She jumped, startled to find him sitting up, looking at her. He was looking at her the way he had always looked at her except all of sudden he was _Shikamaru_ and he was _looking_ at her and shit, could her heart stop pounding so hard in her chest?

“You ok?” Shikamaru asked, eyes narrowed as they swept over her, searching for signs of illness or insanity.

Ino had never noticed the depth of his brown eyes before, with just a few hints of gray and green to remind her of a forest. And when had he gotten such muscles? He’d been a lanky kid, but now all of sudden he had things like broad shoulders and biceps. He looked at her with such kindness, as open as he had only ever been able to be with her. Shikamaru met her eyes and tilted his head slightly to the left, the way a scholar might look at their subject of study.

“I’m fine,” Ino said, quickly looking away. She refused to be intimidated. This was Shikamaru, for Christ’s sake, not her mother. Ino cleared her throat as Shikamaru squinted at her, clearly not believing her lies.

“Ino,” he said, quietly. “You don’t have to try so hard with me, you know.”

She snorted. Because she was Ino, and she had walls. (Even if he was climbing them with ease). Damn her if those weren't the two most romantic phrases she had ever heard in her life. Feeling weak all of a sudden—something she would later blame on the aforementioned gin and jet lag—Ino looked at him.

“Shikamaru,” she said, and then she had no idea what happened next, had no idea what she had been planning to say, because suddenly Shikamaru was leaning towards her, or she was leaning towards him, eyes flickering to lips.

Shikamaru paused, hesitant.

Ino had never been more sure of anything in her life.

And then, just like that, they were kissing.

And it was, in a word, everything.

Shikamaru’s lips were chapped from the sun and sand of Turtle Islands, but gentle against her own. Ino slanted her mouth across his, deepening the kiss, drawing them closer together, demanding more. Shikamaru was lower than her, propped up on the sand with one elbow, so Ino shifted to curl against his chest, pressing him back down into the sand. He groaned as she did so, his hands wrapping around her waist, her dress riding up, exposing her thighs.

They kissed, and kissed, and kissed, above sand, beneath the stars, against the waves, and nothing else in the world mattered — not even their best friend’s wedding reception, a few feet away.

“Ino,” Shikamaru breathed, and her dizzying daydream paused, acknowledging his voice. “How drunk are you right now?”

She paused, pulling away to hover above him, her long hair spilling against his shoulders. “Not that drunk,” Ino said, but Shikamaru eyed her like he didn’t believe her. “Ok, maybe a little drunk.”

“Me too,” he said, and the spell was broken. Ino shifted off of his lap as he sat up, putting distance between them. She realized she was breathing hard, as if she’d been running. Even Sai had never made her feel like this. “We’re friends, Ino, we’ve been friends for so long and—,”

“Please don’t,” Ino groaned, waving a hand to interrupt his tirade. She was usually the ranter, but once Shikamaru got started he could go on forever. She painfully recalled the Great Break Up of High School—when Shikamaru had broken up with Kin. He’d talked her ear off outside the gymnasium about all the reasons they shouldn’t be together, until she’d finally screamed at him to shut up and that she was now breaking up with him. “I don’t want to hear it. Don’t tell me why it’s wrong and why it won’t work. I don’t know what just happened or what it means, but I—I just don’t want to hear that right now.”

Ino peeked at him from beneath the curtain of her blonde hair. “I just want to enjoy...this. You. Here. Now.”

Shikamaru cracked a smile. “Ok,” he agreed, readily.

“We can talk tomorrow,” Ino offered.

“Tomorrow,” Shikamaru agreed, but he was already reaching for her, bringing their lips together again.

* * *

And the day after that, and the day after that, until one day, a few years later, they were standing on a beach not so very different from this one, saying _I do_.


End file.
